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Pentagon memo proposed US pressing for N Korea leader`s ouster
New York, Apr 21: Just days before President Bush approved the opening of negotiations with North Korea over its nuclear programme, defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld circulated to key members of the administration a memorandum proposing a radically different approach that the US should team up with china to press for the ouster of the North Korean leadership.
New York, Apr 21: Just days before President Bush approved the opening of negotiations with North Korea over its nuclear programme, defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld circulated to key members of the administration a memorandum proposing a radically different approach that the US should
team up with china to press for the ouster of the North Korean leadership.
Rumsfeld's team was urging diplomatic pressure for changing the government, not a military solution,
administration officials were quoted as saying in a media report.
But the classified Pentagon memo, drafted by officials who are deeply opposed to opening talks that could eventually end up benefiting North Korea economically, shows how the handling of the crisis has become a subject of internal struggle over how to pursue Bush's determination to stop the spread of nuclear arms and other unconventional weapons. Secretary of State Colin Powell's approach, officials familiar with his thinking were quoted as saying, is to offer North Korea assurances that the US is not trying to undermine its government, but to make clear that until the nuclear programs are dismantled, the country will get no aid and investment.
Powell, The New York Times says, received final approval for his approach in a meeting with President Bush last week, a session Rumsfeld did not attend. "There's a sense in the Pentagon that Powell got this arranged while everyone was distracted with Iraq," said one intelligence official. "And now there is a race over who will control the next steps."
Bureau Report
But the classified Pentagon memo, drafted by officials who are deeply opposed to opening talks that could eventually end up benefiting North Korea economically, shows how the handling of the crisis has become a subject of internal struggle over how to pursue Bush's determination to stop the spread of nuclear arms and other unconventional weapons. Secretary of State Colin Powell's approach, officials familiar with his thinking were quoted as saying, is to offer North Korea assurances that the US is not trying to undermine its government, but to make clear that until the nuclear programs are dismantled, the country will get no aid and investment.
Powell, The New York Times says, received final approval for his approach in a meeting with President Bush last week, a session Rumsfeld did not attend. "There's a sense in the Pentagon that Powell got this arranged while everyone was distracted with Iraq," said one intelligence official. "And now there is a race over who will control the next steps."
Bureau Report